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Show Notes
Today’s guest: Veronica Belmont & maybe, just maybe JuRY
Headlines
GigaOM reports Samsung announced the Galaxy S5 Mini Tuesday. The smaller version of the S5 has a 4.5-inch AMOLED screen that’s 720p capable, 1.4GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM and a microSD card slot. Those specs are a touch below the bigger S5 but the mini also comes with the waterproofing, heart rate monitor, fingerprint scanner and Galaxy Gear compatibility just like the big version. It goes on sale in 4 colors starting in Russia in July and will expand to global markets afterwards.
TechCrunch reports Microsoft has increased security for OneDrive and Outlook.com. Outlook.com now supports TLS which keeps email encrypted as long as the receiving email service also supports TLS. Both Outlook.com and OneDrive now support Perfect Forward Secrecy encryption as well which helps mitigate damage if a secret key is compromised.
Engadget reports GE is taking on the smartphone-controlled light bulb dominance of Philips with some new bulbs called Link. The bulbs require a $30 hub to operate, but then the bulbs themselves are only $15-$25 each. Lifx bulbs run $100, Philips new Lux bulbs are $40 and even Insteon costs $30. Link bulbs are controlled through the Wink app made by Quirky and should last 23 years or so. Home Depot is taking pre-orders for the bulbs today and they’ll ship this autumn.
Computerworld passes along that DARPA has set the date for the final stage of its three-phase Robotics Challenge to be held June 5 and 6, 2015, in Pomona, Calif. 11 teams will compete for a $2 million prize, though DARPA expects the number of entrants to increase. The first two phases involved demonstrating software for autonomous etasks like walking, using tools, climbing and driving. In the finals, the robots will face a full-scale disaster situation, and have to use a series of ladders, doors, cars and valves to handle the situation.
TechCrunch The US National Archives and Record Administration has made its ongoing efforts to upload content to Wikimedia Commons a core part of its purpose. NARA uploaded 100,000 images in 2012 as a test. 4,000 Wikipedia articles featuring NARA records received more than one billion page views in 2013. The uploads range from mundane federal agency records to World War II photos and presidential portraits.
News From You
MacBytes posted the Verge article giving a few more details on Keurig’s Coffee pod DRM scheme. Key patents on Keurig’s pods expired in 2012 leading to third-party pods. Keurig makes most of its money selling pods not machines. The new brewer going on sale this autumn, scans pods for special markings, based on anti-conterfeiting technology used by the US Mint. Its essentially DRM for coffee. It’s also going to make your old Keurig machine much more valuable.
robodashy has the Mashable story that the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved ReWalk Robotics’ personal exoskeleton for marketing in the U.S. The 46-pound robotic legs support their own weight plus a 220-pound user who wears a 5-pound backpack. A wrist-device with physical buttons controls the device. The battery is designed to support a full day of intermittent walking, but if the wearer walks non-stop, the battery will last three to four hours. Users have to be between 5-foot-3 and 6-foot-3. The device costs $69,500 and is not covered by insurance in the US.
spsheridan submitted the Ars Technica story about No-IP.com going down after Microsoft seized 22 domain names it claimed were being abused in malware-related crimes. Millions of legitimate servers relied on No-IP for dynamic domain name services, including AlphaGeekRadio.Microsoft claimed No-IP domains were used 93 percent of the time by Bladabindi and Jenxcus malware and its operator, Defendant Vitalwerks did not take sufficient steps to address the abuse.
And tjburbank sent in the story from Daily Dot about Paypal freezing the account of crowdfunded ProtonMail. The ProtonMail project wants to make an easy email encryption tool. A Paypal representative said it was not sure if ProtonMail was legal. Apparently Paypal figured it out as the account was restored late this morning. Paypal in a following statement claimed “a technical problem this week resulted in PayPal applying restrictions to the account.” Right. ProtonMail says it will not rely on Paypal for donations until its assured there will not be a repeat of this.
Discussion Section:
http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/30/community-will-get-its-sixth-season-on-yahoo/?ncid=rss
http://www.wired.com/2014/06/community-sixth-season-yahoo/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/community-returning-sixth-season-yahoo-715857
Pick of the Day: SNL Archives on Yahoo Screen
Jennie’s pick of the day is the SNL archive on Yahoo Screen. Disclaimer: Jennie worked for Yahoo’s video department not too long ago. And then that ended. Yet she STILL wants to recommend the incredibly deep bench of archival Saturday Night Live clips that you can find on Yahoo Screen, including ones you don’t often see online due to music rights, like Will Ferrell’s gut-busting ‘Cowbell’ sketch as well as Chris Farley & Patrick Swazye’s legendary dance-off in the “Chippendales” sketch. The archive also includes older, deeply subversive clips like Buck Henry’s “Uncle Roy” and the legendary face-off between Chevy Chase & Richard Pryor known as “Word Association.” Enjoy the rest of your day, people.
Wednesday’s Guest: Scott Johnson with a Nerdtacular’14 preview.